I should note that, despite its apparent editing inconsistency, this is the one of my videos I value above all the others.

You shouldn't need to read this to understand the video, this is to give credit where and to whom it belongs as well as to explain my motivation and strong feeling toward this video and the concept that supports it.

Ever since I really got into Iced Earth, I noticed how much potential they had for AMVs as far as topic and action. They have such a broad range of sounds that they can appeal to many people in many ways, and that's what grabbed me. Three years after I got into Iced Earth and became familiar with all of their music, I decided I was ready to make an AMV but I wasn't going to force it. I had to wait for an idea to come to me. About half a year earlier, I watched my first entire anime series (Now and Then, Here and There) and it remains one of my favorite anime. This song and that anime are a perfect match, but I didn't see that right away because I wasn't forcing myself to look. I have to give credit to Beowulf and his Imagine video for inspiring this. But I wanted to do something a little different...

For the past six years or so, I've been interested in the concept of politics and the general condition of mankind (I was a weird kid ;p). We are in whatever state we are in entirely because of our own actions. Greed, lust, jealousy, and egocentricism have run American politics for a long time and in several different ways. I've always believed that it will only spread if people don't take a strong action toward something positive and purely good (though "good" is usually subjective). The individual of the general populace has deluded themselves into thinking that they, out of billions, mean nothing. But that's not true, at first they mean one. But they are a one that can create another, and that is where an individual's strength lies. Once the individual realizes that they have a certain amount of influence, they can spread it and, I believe, America and perhaps the world can be pulled out of the rut we've dug ourselves. That's called idealism. :p I can't honestly believe that this world will be anything more than a festering shit hole. But I needed a video to show that little idealistic side of me, anyway.

I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge, because my first video was instrumental and a minute shorter. Instrumental was good because I created my own story, and it was purely for fun. This one is different because I needed to structure it according to the lyrics of the song, and pace it according to the music. Consequently, this video took longer than my first vid (total just over 65 hours, 10-15 of that was just technical stuff). Nonetheless, I did manage to pull it off with enough action to keep me interested. ;p

Here are the lyrics...

As human beings, we're a complex thing
Sometimes so beautiful, other times so vain
We've built an empire, the blood is on our hands
Genocide and the chains that bind
The consequence ahead

Oh, you ought to know
Oh, you ought to know

Wrote about in history as if it's all okay
A race of people murdered; another one enslaved
Now our world crumbles, it's happening within
Open your eyes and realize
The world we're living in

Oh, you ought to know
Oh, you ought to know

If we could focus on important things
Live and let live: true freedom, not everyone's the same
No more war for your god, no more war for your race
It's our world, it's what we make it
Make it a better place

Oh, you ought to know
Oh, you ought to know

We can change the world that we're living in
Live and let live, true freedom
Let the reign begin

Also, thanks go out to Beowulf (as stated earlier); Lyrs, for all her worthy input and encouragement; Arigatomina, for her advice and friendship; and to Misty Caldwell and Chaos Angel for being the friends they've always been. Also, thanks to the Org chat and Demonseal for keeping me occupied when I couldn't edit or sleep. And a final thanks to AD for always being able to answer what questions I had, even though I convinced myself ahead of time that I wouldn't need help. -_-

Enojy the video, I put a lot more into it than my last.

(any comments can be sent through PMs, AIM [handle = cjhayes85], or my email at flint.the.dwarf@gmail.com)